Open Bug 744365 Opened 12 years ago Updated 3 months ago

Quickfilter: inverse selection (thus inverse filter)

Categories

(Thunderbird :: Search, enhancement)

11 Branch
x86_64
Linux
enhancement

Tracking

(Not tracked)

People

(Reporter: aorimn, Unassigned)

References

Details

On the Quick Filter toolbar, it would be great to be able to simple click (right-click, ctrl-click, whatever-click/keypress) to invert the selection.

For instance, it's possible to select only unread messages using the "unread" quick filter. What would be great is right-clicking (or whatever) to invert the filter and see only read messages.

I'm aware of the custom filter option, but setting a filter for each tag I create is really tedious (so yes, if this filter inversion can be implemented for tag "sub-filter", it would be awesome).

Note: this feature is also requested on this page, if you didn't understand what I meant: http://superuser.com/questions/254867/inverse-thunderbirds-quick-filter-selection
I'm willing to port this functionality from TotalQuickFilter, if the below is pre approved. It would match exactly what is implemented there for Read, Starred, In Addressbook, Has Attachments, Tagged buttons:
1) right click negates/inverts the filter, ie Not Starred, Not Tagged.
2) tristate button state; strikethrough on checked button text/icon to indicate negation.
3) left or right click unchecks negated button state.
4) for negated Tags, the secondary toolbar will not appear.
5) tooltip instructions for negation.

I'm specifically not interested in the, imo, overly complex and low use case[1] solutions for Tags in bug 683809.

[1] just because a theoretical universe of intersection possibilities exist, doesn't mean any users would find such a query useful or that a UI should be build for it. plus, Tags in general have low usability since they are often lost in move/copy operations and are problematic with IMAP; it makes no sense to put bells and whistles on a fundamentally poorly functioning base.
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
Flags: needinfo?(richard.marti)
Flags: needinfo?(mkmelin+mozilla)
Thanks for the offer. You'd have to ask Kent, he started work on bug 683809 since in his workflow he wants to see untagged messages and some tagged messages at the same time. I don't think the strike-through à la TotalQuickFilter would help him.
Flags: needinfo?(rkent)
rkent's opinion as a peer is valuable, but that bug/effort is not this this user's bug/request.
I'm positive for this functionality.
I think this would be an easy interface to invert the selections (and also implement the base functionality of bug 683809 which isn't easy to understand for normal users in it's actual proposal) and applies on all selectors and not only on tags.
Flags: needinfo?(richard.marti)
(In reply to Richard Marti (:Paenglab) from comment #4)
> ... and applies on all selectors and not only on tags.
Yes, but that's the "one size fits all" approach which is simply not adequate.

For example, I see no use case for searching for messages without attachment. On the other hand, it makes sense to search for messages without tags to go and tag them. And it makes sense to see untagged messages and a selection of tagged messages side by side.

Although the add-on functionality looks nice and logical, it has little use and adopting it would actually be in the way of having decent tag search.

Jim mentioned "tri-state" buttons as suggested here in his post:
https://mail.mozilla.org/pipermail/tb-planning/2016-September/004879.html,
but as I said, they're not useful.
I started to work on bu 683809 because I needed some functionality, and thought it to be uncontroversial to simply extend the existing functionality in what I thought were trivial and obvious, but useful, ways. Apparently I was wrong in the amount of controversy and discussion it would generate. I have not idea how to resolve UI discussions, and this point I am happy to just defer to whatever Richard and Magnus want to do. If I have issues, I can solve them myself with an addon, so my needs are not really that relevant here.
Flags: needinfo?(rkent)
Clearly missed all deadlines.
Flags: needinfo?(mkmelin+mozilla)
See Also: → 683809
Severity: normal → S3
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